Responsibility
by Ray The Red
Summary: What if Baze had been more responsible from the beginning and Cate - emotional wreck that she was - didn't want anyting to intrude on her tentative engagement to Ryan? In response Baze takes responsisblity, like he should have done 16 years ago. After all, fathers are supposed to fix things.
1. Chapter 1: Signatures Signed

_Signatures Signed_

_"A signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his name." _

_\- Evan Esar_

Nathaniel Bazile groggily got up, and looked at the woman that lay next to him. He couldn't help but smile roguishly as he remembered the fun night they had. Yes, in his opinion one night stands were one of the greatest joys of life. No responsibility, no bickering and most of important of all no emotions; just lust-fueled fun.

Of course that is not to say that he hadn't tried for a real relationship, but it seemed like he wasn't exactly built for them. All his exes – the ones that mattered – he could count them on two hands, and not even get to his other pinky. When it ended they had all screamed at him for being irresponsible, flighty; "a man whore".

He preferred the term 'a connoisseur of women', though Math pointed out that most of the time he went for the fast food equivalent and not the high class meals. Jamie had then compared his taste in women to Subway; "It's not the highest quality food, but it's the healthiest of the fast foods." Sadly, sandwiches don't last too long. Pity, really. Some of the sandwiches he'd tasted had been the best he'd ever had. They just left a bad after taste was all, really he hated it when they called him irresponsible.

Yes, his mind wandered easy – his eyes and hands too, for that matter - and perhaps he didn't always handle everything the best, but he owned a bar. A bar that was going well, he didn't need them calling him the very thing his father had called him most of his life. His father might not approve of the bar, but it was his and he'd be damned before he let anyone take that away from him. He'd built it up from scratch; poured his blood, sweat and tears into it. He'd called the Anvil, that's why the sign that hung over the door had a pictogram of one on it. Sounded right manly it did, his two co-owners agreed on that. Frankly, he didn't know where'd he'd be without those two idiots.

With a grunt he got out of his comfortable bed, more comfortable than usual because of the hot body that lay next to him. He needed his coffee though, and milk. Damn, his head was pounding from the party they'd held in the bar. He'd dealt with worse hangovers though, so without too much stumbling he made it to his shower. The hot stream of water immediately washed away whatever effects of sleep were still on him, and helped a little with the hangover as well. He heard some rustling and suddenly the shower curtains were shoved aside. He grinned as the blonde stood in front of him, naked as the day she was born.

She looked a bit more hung-over than him, but that didn't stop her from saying: "Hey Tiger, mind if I join you?"

"I don't mind at all, but only if you're up for some wake-up exercise?"

She looked playfully affronted, "I'll show you that's it you who'll have trouble keeping up!"

The curtains closed, as the buxom blonde entered the shower.

* * *

He walked into their loft once again after having said goodbye to Patricia, who'd needed to get to her job. It was Monday after all. He brightly greeted Mathew Rogers, his childhood friend.

"Morning Math."

"Morning right back at you, 'Tiger'," came the flippant reply from the bespectacled man. He was a bit heavy set, and his clothes were not really with the times. Antiqued was what you could call Mathew's looks, a polar opposite to Baze. People often asked how they'd become friends. A story that wasn't all that special, really.

They'd known each other practically since birth, their parents fast friends, and as such had become the same. Sure Mathew hadn't had the best of times in High school, or before that, but it could have been a lot worse had it not been for Baze. And they both full and well knew Baze could have done more, but he'd been kind of an asshole back in the day, and their friendship had truly bloomed in College when Baze finally started to stand up for Matthew. They'd been a team ever since then.

Baze blushed as he heard the nickname the blonde, now in a cab, had bestowed him. "Ah, so you heard."

"Kind of hard not to when she screams it for the whole street to hear."

"Ah, Touché." He looked at what was in the mixer and asked, "So, what you making?"

"A healthy smoothie, want some?" and the man turned the blasted machine on. Baze couldn't help but flinch at the horrible sound. The hangover wasn't completely gone yet.

"No thanks, maybe after I've had my coffee." He tipped back the full cup that stood ready for him, courtesy of his best friend.

He turned around as he saw his other friend enter the large space that was their kitchen/dinner/living raised his eyebrows as he took in the small red-head that Jamie was promising to text and maybe even call. It was a curious sight. Baze had been living with Jamie long enough to know his types, and redheads were not on the top of the man's list, so the fact that he had gone for her was a deviant that interested him mightily. He gave her another once over, and started to understand.

He also knew that Jamie wouldn't call; the guy was even more of a Casanova than him. The strong, African American man had had maybe three serious relationships in the seven years that Baze'd known the him. All of them hadn't been very long in the end. They'd been roommates in college, and as soon as Jamie's partner for the night had left the loft, Baze couldn't let his curiosity burn any longer.

"So, you played with fire tonight?"

Jamie grinned, "You bet your ass I did! Hotter than hot, I tell you Baze."

"I know Jamie, I have eyes."

"Never said you didn't, though I suppose Tigers are more afraid of fire than men. After all, Tigers can be tamed." All of them laughed at that.

"Ah but she didn't tame him, Jamie. He mauled her, at her request no less." came Mathews answer as he poured three cups of smoothie, "Interesting fetish, though, makes you wonder what happens when she watches Discovery Channel or goes to the zoo. Maybe I should write a book about that, would be a straight out best seller, don't you guys think?"

Baze almost chocked on his coffee and Jamie just lost it all together. Matthew had really come far since his high school days, a lot more cheek to him now, though he still floundered around hot women like a fish out of water.

After finally regaining his composure Blaze said, "I don't think that that's the sort of book a high school English Teacher writes, or should write."

"Hey, not like high school students are all that decent," said Math as he gave out their drinks, "and neither are you guys."

Jamie and Baze shared a look, "True, but you are and that's the thing."

Matt smiled as he took a sip of his own made smoothie, " I know, I'm more than decent; I'm a gentleman."

In a posh British accent Baze said, "A gentleman who would write about the fetishes of his room mates' nightly partners? Jamie, my fellow, do you think that's a gentlemanly thing to do?"

"No, I don't think so at all. In fact, chap of mine, I believe that we would call such an act sleazy."

"Yes, quite. A dirty book sprung from a dirty mind! What a dastardly fellow we have in front of us."

A snort escaped the topic of their little act, " Well, this dastardly fellow has English to teach in 3 hours and a few papers to grade. I think I'll go on to the hallowed halls of learning, and get on that."

Baze had been about to make another quip when the doorbell rang, making all of them jump just a little. That bell was rarely used, and as he looked at the clock on the wall it wasn't time for the 'Beer guy', as he had been dubbed, to come yet. It rang again and he scowled as the sound didn't help his hangover.

The three of them walked down the stairs, as once again the bell rang. "What's Beer Guy doing here, he's almost three hours early!" He looked upon the bar and found that it was far from clean. He turned around to his fellow bar tender, "Jamie, what am I paying you for, this place is trashed."

Arms were raised in a shrug, "Yeah, well so was I. " Blaze snorted at that, it was a fairly accurate description of how last night had ended.

He opened the door to find a petite, blonde standing there. Definitely not Beer Guy, nor his partner of the night. Hipster hat and shawl on, blue jacket and an uncertain look on her face. He had never met her before, which didn't come as much of surprise as he didn't know any teenagers. At all. In all honesty he stayed as far away from them; he owned a bar, teenagers were what killed bars.

"Hi," were the first words out of her mouth.

He leant on the door and said "hi" back, hoping she had a goddamn good reason for having rung the bell four times. The thing was a bloody nightmare, it woke up the proverbial dead, but then that had been the reason he'd bought it. When he slept he became lost to the world, very few things could bring him back once he was out like a light.

"I- uhhh – I uhh- I need to get a signature from someone."

He raised one eyebrow, more confused now. "Okay?" he replied, wondering what exactly she wanted someone to sign.

"Probably not you though."

He took offense to that. He knew he didn't look the most proper, in his blue" MILF: it does a body good" shirt, jeans and hung over face but you didn't point that out to the person.

She wanted judgmental? Alright, she'd get judgmental, "We have all the Thin Mints we need, thank you."

"Who's that? Is it the Bug Guy?" asked Jamie.

"No, it's a girl scout." Take that you little hipster.

His two roommates exclaimed their love for the cookies, each naming their own favorite brand. He couldn't help but feel smug.

"Actually, I'm looking for someone. A Nathaniel Bazzel?" said the teen. He grumbled on the inside, remembering the college days where people had made that same mistake. Really how hard was it, there was only one 'z', not two.

"Bazile. Yeah, that's me."

She scoffed," Wait, you're Nathaniel….Bazile." She looked even more uncertain than before. "Are you sure," she asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"And you live in a bar?" Could she make her voice any more patronizing?

"No, I live above a bar. What can I help you with."

"Well, I'm no girl scout," she said with annoyance and then seemed to wilt, "I- I'm kind of half composed of your genes."

"Huh?" came his own voice, but he didn't really care about that. His mind was going a mile an hour.

"I- I'm your daughter."

He laughed, because when he was nervous he fucking laughed. His mind came to a screeching halt, "That, that's funny – you're my what now?"

"Daughter." And when he heard it again he didn't laugh, because he was now beyond nervous. He was fucking confused and if he was honest, slightly terrified.

"Dude that is not a girl scout."

"That's a girl."

He didn't have enough energy to glare at his two best friends for that lovely clarification.

* * *

Baze was used to screwing up, it had been a defining factor of his teenage years and his father hadn't ever failed to remind him of that. This was new to him though, completely and entirely new.

He wasn't really listening to what she was saying, he was looking at her. Really looking at her, because for the love of god this was his daughter. His blonde, petite yellow t-shirt wearing DAUGHTER! He looked at her face, small plump lips and sharp nose. Wavy blonde hair and striking blue eyes, kind of a cold and annoyed look in them. Fuck, she didn't resemble anyone he knew. Not a fucking one.

He heard her voice, which in his opinion was a very nice voice. Soft, yet strong if he had a way to describe it. Oh and he couldn't forget the tone she was using, the tone of someone who was majorly annoyed.

"Okay, one more time for the cheap seats. You and someone had a kid. You gave up that kid. I am that kid."

"I got that part." Came his own voice, equally annoyed. How the hell does she expect him to react, not shell shocked?

"Now I'm applying for emancipation –

"From your adoptive parents?"

"From Foster care. Keep up dude," came Math's voice.

He glared at his best friend. He wasn't the one who had to remember every girl he'd ever slept with to see if there was any resemblance to his apparent daughter. Multitasking wasn't a great talent of his, and seeing as his second train of thought was going nowhere he gave it up.

The teen just barraged straight on, "So I was putting together the paper work for my hearing and it turns out that nobody ever signed the permanent release of rights." She gave him said form.

He looked at it and his mind brings up a blank. Never seen the paper before in his entire life, just like the kid in front of him. Never even heard of any need to sign such a form. Fuck, if the woman wanted to spite him (which was very possible) she would have made him sign the goddamn form, never allowing him to see his kid. Not that not telling him hadn't done that, but that was beside the point. If she, too, had given the kid up, why not give up her own rights. Frankly he found this kind of cruel; like putting a toy in a box and only removing it years later when it fits your fancy.

"And my case worker was going to take forever to get it signed and then I saw your name and address, popped the file and basically until you sign that form you are still legally my dad."

"Right," he said having at least that much down now. He looked at her again, and asked, " How old are you?"

"Turning 16 this Thursday."

He was doing the math, and so were his friends. He paled considerably.

1993 is the year she's born. He looked at the calendar and found the date, 12th of September. Three days from now, that made it 15th of September, subtract 9 months. December of 1992 and he paled even further.

"Well are you going to sign it or what? I don't want to be here as much as you probably don't want me here. My case is the day after tomorrow – and if I don't get these signature, _both_ of these signatures, I'll have to spend another two years being bounced around foster care, with scope-drinking mothers and creep dads who hit on you, which, to be blunt? Blows. So if you could just sign this and go rifle through your memory banks of teenage girls you impregnated that would be great!"

He hasn't signed it yet, but he can give her an answer.

"Well, there's no banks of memory for that I'm afraid. Only one. Your mother is Cate Cassidy. With a 'C', by the way. " He cringes, ready for the anger and indignation of one Matthew Rogers. He doesn't have to wait long.

"Cate Cassidy, from high school?!"

"Yes."

"As in Cate Cassidy from Radio K100?" Came his daughters voice.

"That's the one."

"Cate Cassidy from the graduating class of 1994?!"

"Yup."

"Cate would have never slept with you! She was the best in the class, had a 4.0!" came Math's rant.

"You seem to know a lot about this girl," quipped Jamie.

"She despised you! You were gross, she hated you!" he seemed absolutely flabbergasted – and wow what a word, flabbergasted – " Did you roofie her?"

He looks at the guy like he's lost his head, which very well might be the case. "Who- who roofie's people?!"

"Man, she wasn't even your type!"

"Yeah, well proof of the fact is right in front of you. To top it off, she's blonde. Not hard to miss Math."

"I see that Baze, but why the hell didn't you ever tell me?!"

"Because I never knew she had a kid?" he replies, arms in the air.

"Not that, why didn't you ever tell me that you had sex with her?! You know what I felt back then!"

His daughter – Cate's daughter too – interrupts them, "Sorry to put a crack in your brotherhood, but could you just hurry up and sign it? And give me Cate's number and address, because then I can get out of your obviously thinning hairline." Snark much?

"My hair is not thinning, is it?"

Jamie grins, "Just a little." No help at all that one.

Math practically shoves the phone in his hands, " Screw your hair, you'll call her right now!"

"You want me to call her out of the blue and tell her I'm with a daughter I never knew she had?" Perhaps the guy had gone insane.

"Yes," came Math's answer, the glare quite a convincing argument.

He looks to Jamie. "It's an idea."

He looks at his daughter, she nods. He groans and looks to the ceiling. This was going to go well.

* * *

He's dialing the number and with each digit he presses, the more nervous he becomes. He hasn't spoken to Cate Cassidy in 16 years. Not since that day in January where he'd told her exactly what he wanted.

He suddenly snaps his head up from the phone and looks at his daughter, when in fact, there should not be a daughter to look at. That's what he'd told her without being too harsh, even told her in not so many words he'd pay for it if needed.

"You don't want it, I don't want it. I think it's quite simple as to what we have to do. If we do that, well nobody will ever know, yes? Money can buy silence, and it doesn't get much more silent than this. So if you need the money, I'll give it to you. Seriously, think about it; a problem that doesn't even exist!"

Those had roughly been his words and apparently they had not been received in the manner that he thought that they had been. Maybe the running away in tears should have clued him in. He sighs and continues dialing.

He hears the voice mail, and starts speaking, "Hey Cate, Nathaniel Bazile from Westmont here and I need you to call me back –

"Hello?"

"H-hi Cate it's been a – It's Nate Bazile and umm we kind of did it that time-"

He looked at his phone, she'd hung up. "Well, that could have gone better."

Baze feels the pointed stares of the other people in the room and his daughter snipes, "You don't say."

He frowns. "Loving the sarcasm, but I can't very well call you girl scout, girl or daughter anymore. So, what's your name?"

"Name's Lux." He finds that is suits her.

"Nice name, I'll introduce you to the other two now, I guess. That guy with the glasses over there is Matthew Rogers, childhood friend, and that over there is Jamie, college roommate."

She nods to each of them and then turns to him again. "So, you going to call her again?"

His green eyes meet her blue ones, " I don't think that's the best idea. I'm going to give myself some time to process all this and then I'll call her again, okay?"

"Fine," she concedes, "how long does it take you to process things."

Before he can answer Jamie puts in his two cents, "You should probably take a seat on the couch, this is going to take a while."

Lux, his daughter – damn that will take some getting used to – twitches. " How long is a while? I don't exactly have a while!"

"Give me an hour, maybe two. As Matthew put it once, I have about as much tact as a toddler and the subtlety of a hand grenade."

She smirks, "I've noticed."

"Good, then you might as well get comfortable because were going to chill."

"Chill?" she asks.

" Yeah, chill," he starts walking to his refrigerator, "makes me think better. Calms me down too. You look like you could use some chilling as well, so what do you want to drink?"

"What you got?"

"Coke, milk some left over smoothie. Tea and Coffee too, though I think we ran out of sugar yesterday."

"I'll have some of that smoothie then, what's the flavor?"

"Banana and yoghurt, right Math?"

"Yeah," came the curt reply. Still stung about that revelation. Oh well, the guy'd get over it, he always did. One of the many things he respected and loved the guy for; a heart of gold, and tough to boot.

"So, is banana to your taste?"

"It is."

"Very good, one banana smoothie coming up."

The blare of the TV enters his ears and he turns to look at Jamie who says, "Make that two, by the way the recap of yesterday's match is on in 20."

He smiles at roommate of almost 10 years, "Yeah that's the spirit. And you know, Math if you have the time could you make some more of that smoothie? I can't make it as good as you."

"Yeah, you can't. So, I'll be a gentleman and make some more." Math looks at Lux, "Want me to add strawberries whilst were at it?"

"Yes! I love strawberries!" came the excited reply.

He can't help but look at Lux, "That your favorite fruit?"

"Yeah, it is. What about it?"

"Huh, it's my favorite as well."

* * *

Lux, he decided, looked like she was no longer chill. She was pacing.

"I have waited for 3 hours now – the game's already long finished - that is more than you said it would take! She hasn't called back either, so I'd get yourself dialing those numbers."

He folds his arms, "Well, tell me this then; How exactly do you envision the conversation going between me and her, because I promise you she hates my guts." Has every right to went practically unspoken.

"Well for a start, I'd avoid using the phrase " When we did it that one time", usually makes women hang up."

"I know that," he snaps, "just give a few more minutes alright?" He stood up and went to get a beer.

He twisted of the cap and took a sip. Okay, one bottle of beer and he'd call her again. He could do this, he was the connoisseur of women. He would find a way for this to work, one where he doesn't get too chewed up. He looks at the hipster that's apparently his daughter, who'd finally taken a seat and was once again watching the basketball game with a slight interest, and snorted. Before he got chewed up by a different woman would be a better way to phrase that.

"Hey wasn't that a foul?" says Lux.

"Yes, that was," answered Jamie, "See, you're catching on! Better than the ref is, anyway."

He had to explain the rules to her, but he'd enjoyed that. Sport was his thing, always has been and even if he might never see her again after he signed that paper he was glad that he'd been able to at least give her some of his knowledge. Useless perhaps, but an impression nonetheless. At the very least, it seemed that she didn't hate him like Cate Cassidy.

He frowned, how the hell was he going to do this without that woman losing her temper? He remembered the conversations, sparing that they'd been, that took place in '94. He remembered one time in particular, it'd been in Biology. They'd been paired up one class and he still remembered the way she "accidentally" almost spilled some acid on him. "I'm sorry that I missed," had been her apology. Yes, if that didn't indicate hate then he wouldn't know what would.

But there was one thing that angered him more than anything. He'd always felt guilty about it, about being such an asshole to her. He'd always tried to push the depressing thought from his mind, but he knew that he'd ruined her life at the time – if even for a while. Always felt guilty about taking away the chance of life for a baby – that very thought had haunted more than any other. It's why he'd changed in college. He knew he couldn't change what had happened – thought what had happened, as it turns out – and he'd decided to be responsible from then on.

He was angry at her because she should have told him that she had decided to give birth to it after all. This was his child they were talking about goddammit and he knew in his heart that had she told him that she hadn't gotten an abortion that he would have supported her; his parents had more than enough money. But, maybe that was a fantasy of his, one where he wouldn't have any guilt.

In any case, that time was a long time gone. He could not go back in time and swallow the harsh demand - ulitmaten even - that he'd given Cate that January. He could never see Lux walk her first steps, or any of that sentimental crap. The best he could do was be a good guy and give her long-wished-for freedom. He had not been her father for 16 years, and he would not demand to be now. That was even more cruel than not signing the release of rights in the first place. He grabbed the paper from his pocket and signed it with a flourish.

That was one hard task of the day, the next would be a significant notch harder.

* * *

Catherine Cassidy was a private person, a person who never showed all the cards. Her problems were hers, and nobody else's. She could take care of said problems, and as such she was no stranger to stress. In fact her mother called her the embodiment of stress. Abbey, on the other hand, likened her to a walking time-bomb: " I swear Cate, if you don't learn to relax you're going to explode. Take that from me, I'm a psychiatrist." _That_ had been the last time the two of them had talked.

She could unwind, she could relax thank you very much! Just not now, with all the moving, the precious engagement to Ryan as of yesterday, and the call from Nathaniel Bazile earlier in the day. Mostly the last though, that had her completely frazzled.

She kept looking at the phone like it would explode, because why in seven hells would that son of bitch call her? She'd kept their escapade in 1992 under tight wraps, and she planned to keep it that way. Really Ryan would learn eventually, but right now- the phone rang. She dropped the book that she'd been putting on the shelf like it was on fire and practically flew to their bedroom, where the closest phone was. She picked it up, and heard a voice she'd dreaded hearing for the last 3 hours.

"Hello, Cate?"

"Yes, what do you want?" she ground out.

"Well, uhh you see I kind of have a situation here."

"And I'm supposed to care because?" She barely refrained from downright screaming, it was a close thing.

"Well, because it's kind of involves you. You uhh, remember, uhh December 1992?"

Her eyes narrowed and she hissed, " I don't think I could forget, you son of a bitch!" and promptly hung up.

She was not in the mood, and if she knew herself, never would be. God that bastard got on her nerves. He had no right to bring up 1992, she'd sealed that dark chapter of her life long ago. There was no need to break open those pages again and she decided that she was going to start day drinking earlier than usual today. She would not allow Nathaniel Bazile to ruin her first day in her new house with Ryan, he'd already ruined so much, and she'd be damned if he ruined more.

* * *

He flinched at the harsh accusation and blinks as he hears the beep of a disconnecting line. "She remembers alright."

Blue eyes looked at him sharply, "No shit Sherlock. Now, call her again."

He stared incredulously at her, "I think hanging up on me twice is enough evidence that she still hates me and this time I had a lot of more tact."

"Apparently not enough. But you know, third time's the charm and all that?" he couldn't really say no to that face, now could he. Besides, he owed her. Big time; as in 15 years of not being there.

He dialed the number again. He was prepared for the harsh voice that cut into whatever nicety he could have introduced himself with, "You again? What the fuck do you want?"

"To be blunt, I need you to sign something for me."

"For you?! Why would I sign anything for -

"Well, no I suppose that's phrased wrong. Not for me, more like alongside me. You see, it's September again, and-

"And what?" he heard her hiss.

"Well in September 1993 you never signed this form," he heard a sharp intake of breath, "and never let me sign it either. I think 16 years is quite a bit overdue, don't you think."

"Overdue?! You think you're funny, don't you? IF ANYTHING IS OVERDUE IT IS AN APOLOGY OUT OF YOU!"

"Yeah, that's true. I do owe you an apology, and I'll start off by saying that I'm sorry about my words in January of 1993. Look I can't take back my actions or words, or turn back time, but that doesn't change the fact that _you_ owe me an explanation."

"I OWE YOU NOTHING!" He moved the phone ever so slightly away from his ears before they started to bleed.

He sighed, he had to do this diplomatically. Like a breakup, that's how he had to handle this. "Perhaps, but you do owe someone else. The name Lux ring a bell?"

"No, it doesn't." This admission, one she seems glad for, has him absolutely confused. "Goodbye. Don't call again." For the third time in one day she hung up on him.

Lux was looking at the floor, despondent and angry if he was any guess. Arms crossed and big frown on her face.

"Lux, what did Cate mean your name didn't ring a bell?"

He had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

* * *

Lux, no last name for as long as she'd known, glared at her biological father. Nathaniel Bazile was his name, colloquially shortened to Baze, and she didn't resemble him in any way aside from liking strawberries. He had brown hair, green eyes and was quite tall, whilst she was small, blonde and bleu eyed. He was standing behind the kitchen counter, telephone still in hand.

"She doesn't know my name because she's never met me before."

"Yeah, but she gave you that name. I'd think that the name Lux would be ringing quite a few bells in her head. Like, blaring alarms."

Her eyes became cold and she said just as frostily, " She didn't give me that name, a nurse did. Lux, it's an old word for light." She pulls up a strand of her blonde hair for all to see and shakes it, signifying that to be the reason why.

Her father seems floored by this revelation, and just as she thinks he needs it clarified his eyes narrow into slits. "She didn't name you?" comes out the growl.

She nods, silent. She's spent 3 hours with the man, and for the most part he's a calm, relaxed and fun individual. Looks like he has a temper too though, and as she looks at the other two men it doesn't surface all that often.

"I'm going to take a walk." She hears her father announce and she's about to kick up a fuss, that she has no time for a walk, when she feels a hand on her shoulder holding her back. She shakes it off, and glares at the guy with the glasses. The man shakes his head, she gets the message. You don't get in the way of Baze when he's pissed.

Well, what do you know, maybe they had more in common than just strawberries.

* * *

Matthew Rogers had known Baze since they had been crawling, and if there was anyone who knew what drawing Baze's true Ire was like it was he.

"So I take Baze doesn't get pissed often?" says Lux. She had a smirk on her face, the tilt of which was the exact same as her fathers. Her wavy hair reminded him of ever so slightly of Cate. Yes, he was glad that he hadn't gone to work and called off, this was life changing and if the release of rights was any indication, a onetime occurrence.

Jamie snorts, "No he gets pissed all the time, sometimes about the littlest things. It's not all that special or scary."

"Why'd you guys stop me then?"

Mathew answers that for her, "Because that isn't him being pissed off. That, Lux, that's him being near furious."

Her blue eyes, which neither of her parents possess, widen.

"Yeah, no idea what's going on in that head of his, I rarely do. What I do know is that you don't want that ire directed at yourself; I've seen the way he tore into his father when he truly lost his temper." He shakes his head, "His true anger isn't petty, so whatever you triggered Lux, it's something that's been a long time coming."

"What do you mean a long time coming?"

"He piles it up – his anger that is - until he finds someone worthy to release it upon, usually one of the people who's responsible for that anger. Cate just became worthy."

"More like a target," corrects Jamie, "for the homing missile that is Baze."

* * *

Baze hadn't felt this angry for almost a year, maybe more. He could understand her not telling him, make it seem exactly like he had wanted. He could understand giving Lux up, he knew that Cate's home circumstance hadn't been like his; she hadn't been rich. He didn't have to like it, but he understood that.

What floored him and made his blood boil was the fact that Cate had not only not signed over her rights as a parent, but that she actually hadn't given Lux her name. She didn't deserve the right as much as he didn't; neither of them had contributed anything to her. No, Cate had left her nameless, without rights and alone.

He almost crashed into the car that was in front of him, all of his thoughts screeching to a halt and gathering around one in particular. The permanent rights of release, it had never been signed! He knew how their bureaucratic system worked and he knew how much it relied on paper work. Faulty paperwork caused for problems and the form he had in his pocket was a prime example. Holy fuck, was _that_ the reason she'd never been adopted? It certainly complicated matters, that was for sure.

But wait, if neither had ever signed the paper – and he hadn't until earlier today – how the hell did the Foster Care system know who her parents were? Well, there was really only one answer to that question wasn't there? Cate Cassidy of course. Well, good thing he was almost at her address, which oddly enough was in a suburban neighborhood.

As in a neighborhood built for families, and that was making him slightly nervous. He didn't listen to the radio often and if he did it wasn't to K100, and certainly not Morning Madness. Most of the time he wasn't up before noon, and by then it was usually over.

But back to the problem at hand what if she wasn't single? What is she was married and had a family all of her own? He knew of enough radio hosts who had an imago, in fact he was quite sure all radio host were acting out a part. Well, he was going to assume she was – worst case scenario and all that.

He was going to keep it cold and distant; better to not create more drama than necessary if she was married. He had enough guilt concerning the woman, even if a small part of him wanted to do it as retribution for leaving Lux without even so much as a name.

Yes, he was here for Lux not for his own justice or even to absolve himself of some of his guilt. He was here to get a signature, that was that. Nothing more and nothing less.

Hell, Cate didn't deserve to know anything past that, she'd lost that right when she'd hung up on him three times. He nodded at the course of action he'd just come up with; a sort of way to get back at her for never telling him about their daughter.

His GPS announced that they'd arrived and he parked the car and went to the address that google had provided. The house was big, nice and cozy. A family home if he ever saw one, but he stepped out regardless. He took a deep breath and walked forward, past the white picket fence.

He stood in front of the bleu door, took another deep breath and pressed the doorbell. There was no turning back now. Who opened the door was sadly not Cate, but he'd adlibbed before.

"Hey, how can I help you?" came the man's question. Damn, if that face wasn't familiar though.

"Ah, is Cate in? I need to talk to her."

"Yeah, sure. I'll get her," and the man went further inside, but thankfully didn't close the door. He hadn't seen a ring on the man's finger so she wasn't married so that was a relief, if a small one.

She came in the hallway and stopped halfway, stunned beyond belief and then strode forward with a thunderous expression on her face. Well, wasn't that just wonderful?

She had grown up that was for sure, the most notable change being that her hair was now long instead of in a bowl cut. He could see where Lux had gotten her waves from. She was slightly taller too, but then the last time he'd seen her had been 14 years ago, at graduation. The face was the exact same though, he didn't think he'd ever seen her face without a frown after '92. Or at least when said face had him in sight.

"What are you doing here!" she hissed. He wondered if she'd become part lizard over the years.

He raised his hands in the air, "To get your signature that's it, I have no intention of staying here any longer than I need to. I want me gone just as much as you do."

She glared. "And what do you want me to sign, a paper that sells you my soul?"

"As fun as that contract would be, it's not the one you need to sign. It's not of my own creation, sadly, but government issued as it stands. Simple bureaucratic duty, god knows for what, so just sign it and I'll be out of your hair forever. See it as a restraining order of sorts, if you would."

He almost smirked as he saw her latch on to that promise. He handed her the slip of paper, still folded and watched her put her signature next to his without so much as reading it. It probably helped that is was just one form and not a booklet, which would have made her much more conscious of the legal weight that particular piece of paper held.

She gave the paper back as if it had burned her hand, "Well it's signed. Now get the hell of my porch."

He looked at her ring with interest. He be damned, not as single as the internet made her out to be. "Yeah, I'm going. Thanks for being so understanding." He put the paper in his pocket, and the pen as well. "Well, good bye. Oh, and congrats on getting engaged."

He waved and walked towards his car, full on smirk on his face. That look of complete and utter confusion had been worth the civility. He turned on his car, and smiled as a nice rock song came on. Revenge, he thought, really was a dish best served cold.

* * *

**AN: **

Hello all and welcome to an idea that's kept me procrastinating whilst I should have been studying. Loved the show, even with all it's flaws. I thought I'd fix one; mainly, the romance. It's so glossed over and easily let go of in the show, be that with Bug, Jones, Eric or Ryan. In fact the whole Cate&amp;Blaze deal never made much sense to me. To top it off Cate has always been my least favorite character of the whole show; never true to herself or anyone else. Always blaming Baze, and just as everyone else got sick of it in their world, so did I. So, what if Blaze wasn't as easy to blame this time around and Cate never threw that remote, not as comitmentphobic as in canon? That's basically the premise of this fic, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it.

Cheers,

Ray the Red

**Edit 27/9/15 : **Brushed it up a bit, let me know if there are still mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2: Rights Regained

Rights Returned

_" I said: 'Who am I, to blow against the wind?' "_

_\- Paul Simon_

"Hey, Cate there's someone at the door for you."

She put away another plate into their new kitchen cupboard, "Who?"

"Not a clue, some guy. Say's he needs to talk to you." Cate frowned, someone who needed to talk to her? As far as she knew nobody needed to talk to - She almost dropped the plate. Almost, and with quick steps she entered the hallway, her mind awhirl.

Nooo, he wouldn't! He _couldn't_, he didn't know where she lived. Barely anybody did, and those who did didn't know that she'd changed her residence, well aside from the government. Besides she'd made plenty clear that she didn't want anything to do with him. Was he truly that thick headed? Her eyes locked onto the person who stood in the door frame and it made the answer pretty damn clear; yes he was that thick headed. She was stunned by his appearance.

There stood Nathaniel 'Baze' Bazile. He hadn't changed much at all, looked exactly the same as the last time she'd seen him. Same brown eyes, rectangular chin and a good head taller than her. Clothes that showed of his laid-back air, a blue shirt and a brown jacket to be precise. The three o' clock shadow completed the image.

She looked at the lips she'd wanted to kiss the whole of '92, and had kissed that December. For a moment she's back in high school, looking at the quarterback that'd she'd had a major crush on. Then she remembered what the bastard's done, and it shatters like it never existed.

She stormed forward, ready to rip him apart with barbed words. Who the hell does he think he is, barging back into her life!

"What are you doing here?!" she heard herself hiss. He looked very uncomfortable, and she almost smiles vindictively. That's right, be afraid you little man.

He raised his arms, the international sign for coming unarmed and said: "To get your signature that's it, I have no intention of staying here any longer than I need to. I want to me gone just as much as you do."

She very much doubted he understood exactly what she thought of him, she's never really put out there before. Not in words, but in glares she's killed him a thousand times. Never succeeded though. So, whilst saying, "And what do you want me to sign, a paper that sells you my soul?", she tried it again.

Her assassination method failed as expected, and he answers: " As fun as that contract would be, it's not the one you need to sign. It's not of my own creation, sadly, but government issued as it stands. Simple bureaucratic duty, god knows for what," she has to resist rolling her eyes at that, of course he wouldn't know what for, " so just sign it and I'll be out of your hair forever. See it as a restraining order of sorts, if you would."

That last sentence really catches her interest.

15 years have passed since she'd last laid eyes on him, and in her opinion that was too short a time. Hell, those phone-calls alone put her into a foul mood that had only started to dissipate the last hour. Wine had helped, of course, and her new Fiancé kissing her was an even better remedy.

Yes, any amount of countable time was too short. Forever, however, now that sounded more like it.

She looked at the slightly crumpled and folded paper he hands her. She scoffed, it looked about as important as a girl scout waver, less actually since he didn't even have one of those clipboards. However unimpressive the paper looked, it was a ticket to a Baze-free life.

She wasn't signing this because she owed him, as he had claimed on the phone, or for this Lux person. No, she owed it to herself, and more than that she owed to her and Ryan.

She put the paper to the door, put her signature where it was needed and gave it back without so much as glancing at what the document was about. If the government hadn't come for it themselves it couldn't be all that important.

Glad to have that over with she gave him her worst glare as a parting gift and said, "Well it's signed. Now get the hell of my porch."

She watched him put away the paper, crumpling it ever so slightly. He said, "Yeah, I'm going. Thanks for being so understanding." His brown eyes suddenly got a contemplative look in them, and she watched a smirk form on his face.

Cate narrowed her eyes, ready to retaliate to whatever comment he was going to part with. The man proved her wrong, she wasn't ready. "Well, good bye. Oh, and congrats on getting engaged."

Eyes wide and mouth gaping a little she wathces as the teen that had ruined her high school years walked away with a jaunty wave. She continued to watch his big blue car – expected of him, really – as it drove down their lane.

Not one interruption, not one curse word, not a single angry retort. Calm, collected and worst of all, _nice._

"I'll be damned," she whispered.

"What's damning you?"

Cate looked at her fiancé who was leaning against the door. " He grew up."

She sighed, "I need a drink."

* * *

Ryan Thomas had known Cate Cassidy for many years now, and the last 2 better than most. She was a passionate women who keeps to herself, her past a book closed off to most. He could boast to have seen a few sentences, maybe even a paragraph, but he knew that forceful prying was futile. It brought forth the opposite of what you wanted, instead of opening up to you she'd close up; getting answers from a brick wall was easier.

He'd met her family a few times, before they'd gotten together as couple and even once or twice during the two years that they'd dated. They kept their distance from each other, and when they got close the tension was palpable.

Abby, her sister and a psychiatrist, enjoyed picking apart her sisters actions and her psyche. If there was one thing he knew that Cate hated it was being scrutinized. Whatever sibling rivalry they had, it had started way back when. Wasn't going to be resolved soon either, even if finding the root of the problem and fixing it was a psychiatrists job.

Her mother, Laverne, was someone who Cate seemed to dislike even more than Abby. That in itself was an accomplishment. The woman was a cougar, and one who was open in her intensions. What he meant by that was that her hands wandered easily, his backside could certainly confirm as such.

She'd gone through four husbands, and if Cate was to be believed it wouldn't be too long before there was a number 5. On top of that she was a woman who appreciated her alcohol, in fact you could probably call her an alcoholic.

Which brought him to a most interesting thing of the Cassidy family; every single one of them loved alcohol. Before the wine was on the table you could cut the tension, but as soon the that red liquid flowed it just disappeared and they got along well enough without killing each other. Well, for a time.

Cate would deny the claim of being anything like her mother, but he'd seen her open up a bottle earlier in the day. It meant something was stressing her out, and he had it a feeling it was the mysterious caller. Three times the phone had rung, and each time she'd picked up and hung up within 5 minutes.

He was more than curious, but prying would be a most stupid thing to do. No, if you wanted to get your answers you had to give her time. As his father used to say, "Ryan, patience is a virtue. Especially where women are concerned."

He'd then asked why girls never took the initiative and his father had answered, "Because no woman likes an Idle man." He'd taken those words to heart, and to this day he followed them religiously.

Rarely had this advice failed him, and Ryan smirked as he saw his Fiancé storm towards the stranger at the door. Prying didn't seem necessary at all; this had to be Mystery caller.

Ryan's assumption turned out to be right, she had completely broken up with her past. Not just put distance between her family, but also her teenage and childhood days here in the Portland Area. Why she continued to live here, if that was the case, baffled him.

Also, it looked like she wanted to keep it that way. He watched with interest as the guy kept calm, not at all cracking or snapping back and he knew that was getting on her nerves. The guy had expected her to be this cold and harsh and wasn't rising to the bait. Ryan felt his respect for the guy go up a tiny bit. That took some serious control, he knew how Cate could lash out when she wanted to.

Cate signed the lone form, and handed it back. Ryan, in the meantime, knew that this little spat was coming to an end and he moved forward, intent on catching at least the end.

"Well it's signed. Now get the hell off my porch." He felt the contempt drip of her words, and he really wondered what the guy had done.

He expected the guy to at least make a parting crack, some kind of retaliation and as he saw Cate's eyes narrow so did she. The guy made a parting shot alright, but it hadn't been the one he or Cate had been expecting. "Well, good bye. Oh, and congrats on getting engaged."

He watched as his Cate's frown fell and turned into shock. Ryan knew few things caught her by surprise, he'd been quite proud of catching her completely unawares with his announcement yesterday. The sex afterwards had been spectacular, it would bring a smile to him for the following week, that was for sure.

He shook the nice image away, and walked forward to the door, leaning against it.

"I'll be damned."

"What's damning you?"

Brown eyes filled with a swirl of emotions looked at him, "He grew up."

Way from the past then? Well, if there was any time to get answers it was now.

"I need a drink," he'd get answers alright, "and so will you Ryan." If he'd like them, that was another thing entirely, wasn't it?

* * *

"So, remember the yearbook you had earlier in your hands today?"

"Yeah, of course. How could I forget your beautiful haircut?" He grins as she glares lightly at him. Humor works miracles.

"Well, remember that guy I completely defaced?"

His eyes widened, " The Class clown? _That," _he pointed to the door, "was the class clown?"

Cate smiles sardonically, "Oh that was him alright. I don't think I'd forget that face any time soon, or the name Nathaniel Bazile for that matter."

He frowns thoughtfully, "No, you've never mentioned that name before."

She snorts, "No, you bet I haven't. In all honesty I've forcefully pushed him from my mind – from my life. Haven't thought about him in years. I'd actually forgotten that he still existed until today, and I sure as hell would never have guessed that he'd appear on my doorstep."

"Am I right in guessing you didn't part in the best of ways?"

"That, Ryan, is an understatement." He watches in fascination as she chugs her whole glass down. Alright, this guy is a big piece of the puzzle then.

He has a name now, but that doesn't tell him anything, "So, an ex of yours?"

She pours herself a new glass, and he watched as a dark frown took over her face. "No, not an ex. Perhaps that would have been worse."

So a better relationship would have been worse, huh? "An ex-best friend then?"

At that she outright laughs, but it isn't a pretty one. It's a humorless bark," Friend? Please he was _never_ my friend. No, he single handedly ruined my high school experience and my life at the time."

She takes another swig, " See Nathaniel Bazile was the quarterback. The Jock, the popular guy, the class clown. You've seen the movies, you know the type."

Her dark brown eyes look into his lighter ones, "Everybody loved him, from students to teachers. Every girl had a crush on him at some time, and I - I was no exception. It was unthinkable that he'd go for me, something that only happened in movies and TV Shows. December of 1992 proved that assumption wrong."

He has an inkling as to where this is going. Seen enough movies to guess at least; class clowns don't always play the nicest jokes.

"Winter Formal, his date got taken to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. I myself had no date to speak of. I don't remember precisely how we got that Mini-van of his, but I know it involved Zima and conversation."

She chuckles, " I didn't have much of a tolerance back then. Maybe that's why I built it up."

"In any case, there we were in his mini-van, drinking our alcohol and breaking the rules, something I rarely did. It was intoxicating, exciting and that I was doing it with the hottest guy in school made it better. The Spin Doctors came on, and conversation stopped. You don't have to guess what happened next."

He doesn't. Wait, if she had been the goody-two-shoes did that mean that –

"Yeah, lost my virginity in a mini-van, which in the end didn't even turn out to be his own at all, but his mothers. But that wasn't the kicker, Ryan."

Here her voice gets harder, angrier, louder. "The kicker was that the condom he used had been in his wallet for two years!"

He sucks in a breath, "Two years?!" Who the hell keeps a condom in his wallet for two years?! Whatever little respect the guy had gained by the calm façade outside is smashed to smithereens.

"Two years, maybe longer. Way past the expiration date for it to have mattered. Well, you know how the human reproductive system works; I got pregnant."

Another glass goes down the hatch, and he finally starts on his own as well. This was a lot worse than some joke.

"So there I am, 16 and pregnant. Scared out of my mind, and worried sick. I finally pick up my courage and tell him, and he denies that the baby exists. Denies that the night ever happened, denied the _privilege_ of having taken my virginity!"

He's never heard Cate this angry before, and he watches as tears gather in her eyes.

"He denies it all, and I am left alone. I didn't wanted to be like mom, but here I was pregnant two years earlier than her. Somehow I'd fucked up worse than my mother!"

"Hey, you didn't fuck up –

"No, I got knocked up Ryan! Are you even listening?" Her glare is now focused on him, and he realizes that she's lashing out at him – he's the only one present after all.

"So, nine months pass. I miss school those last three months, blame it on being sick. Still, I pass that year. That's not the point, though. I know that I can't take care of the child, hell my own mother is barely supporting me and Abby without completely losing herself to her bottles. Mom is the one wh-who convinces me in the end that it's necessary."

Tears are falling down her cheeks now and he moves over and hugs her. He hates seeing people cry, always has. Most of all he hates it when people he cares about cry.

She shakes her head though, "Wait until the end okay. I want…I want the whole truth out there. I want you to know who you're marrying – what a mess you're marrying!"

He wants to immediately put out there that he knows who he's marrying, that's she's not a mess – not any more than anybody else is. To remind her that to be a mess is to be human, but he doesn't because he knows she needs to do this; to get this off her chest. Maybe that's what's Abby was trying to do all along.

Cate takes a deep breath, a swig straight form the bottle and continues on. "S-she convinces me to give the baby up and so I do. H-he never asks, still in denial, and slowly I too start to deny it ever happened. It's easier because I-I don't know her name, or what she looks like, and for a while I live in a world where it never happened."

Tears are streaming now, she can't put a stop to them anymore. "But it did happen Ryan, and I can't change that. I gave up my child, and that's a horrible thing to do- even if that was the _right_ choice."

She looks at him and he's sure that all she sees is a blurry outline, "Can you live with someone who gave up their first born, and is broken because of it? Can you _marry _someone so callous and heartless? _Can you?_ "

He smiles lovingly at her, "How can I not?"

Her eyes widen, "What, but-

"Shhh," he puts a finger to her lips, having stepped forward, and he feels them quivering.

He looks in those pools of dark chocolate and says, "You say you are heartless and callous, but the very fact that you stand here crying so hard – that you still cry after 15 years – shows the exact opposite. It show how much you care Cate."

"And yes, you might be broken Cate, but there is not a single person on this earth who isn't broken, some just hide it better than others. Cate, love is not about perfection, no matter how much you might think. Love is not about living with someone despite their flaws, but because of their flaws."

He grins, "For example, you can't cook for shit, but that's what I love about you. It allows me to be that guy who cooks for you, your own personal cook, even if I might not be an actual chef. Hell, it allows me to order pizza or Chinese whenever I want!"

He hears her chuckle and sees her lips turn up a bit, "See, I bet you can name a few of my flaws that you love. And I bet you're thinking I'm not broken, and maybe not any longer, but for a time I really was."

"You're not the only one with a hidden secret from the past. Cate, you told me who I was going to marry, well now I'm going to tell you who you're going to marry. From now on, no more secrets between us. Alright?"

"Alright," she agrees.

They kiss, and after they come apart he pulls her to the couch.

"I'm going to tell you about Julia."

* * *

The door slammed, signaling the return of Baze and she met him at the top of the stairs, arms crossed and feet tapping. As an added effect she decided to purse her lips because she'd just waited for an hour – _another_ hour.

"Finally! So, I hope you had a good walk?"

"Yes, yes I did. Got some post for you too," and he handed her the release of rights.

Crumpled it might be, but it had both signatures and that, in the end, was all that mattered. Her mouth opened and closed, because she'd thought he'd just gone out to give Cate a piece of his mind. Instead he'd done this.

Lux was a person who was used to not having adults being all that useful, or trustful. Nathaniel Bazel was, oddly enough, through this act, one of the first ones to prove again why adults took care of kids and teenagers. His laidback air and looks aside, he'd done something she wasn't used to; he came back and gave her what she wanted, without any sort of scamming coming from her part.

There had been no deal, no word wrangling and lying on her part or even any legal responsibility he carried that made it into his responsibility – like the foster care system - and yet he had still done it without so much a prompting. To top it off there was absolutely nothing he gained from it especially since Cate Cassidy – and wasn't that a thought, to have _the_ Cate Cassidy as her mother – hated his guts. It went against every expectation she'd set, and it put a crack into her otherwise jaded mindset. The fact that this was her father made the experience even more surreal.

"Maybe he just wants you out of his hair," came small voice in the back of her head, but it wasn't as strong as it usually was. She'd snarked at him, told him she didn't have the time, but if she was honest she was happy that he'd given her the time of day instead of sending her on her way after having signed the paper. It was a rare occurrence that anyone, aside from her friends, genuinely paid attention to her. She wondered, was Cate the same?

"Did- did she say anything? Have a message for me, maybe?"

"No. No, she didn't. Just signed it, that's all." and that answered everything she needed to know.

Lux contemplated that perhaps because it had been Baze that Cate had kept it short – the phone calls certainly supported this theory. It was just a thing of denial though, because she had always known that her mother didn't want her. To be reunited and accepted into the family was a fantasy that every orphan entertained, but more often than not it stayed just that. She was part of the majority.

It was a disheartening realization, to have it confirmed that your own mother, the woman who had carried you around in her for nine months, didn't want anything to do with you. Nothing whatsoever. Better to hear it from Baze than from the woman herself, softened the blow.

A small part of her wished she'd never gone out and done this, figured out who here parents were. A happy fantasy was better than the cold hard truth. The fact that her mother was Cate Cassidy, a woman she idealized, made things considerably worse; how could she listen to Morning Madness with the knowledge that this was the woman who had abandoned her 16 years ago and to date didn't want anything to do with her? She couldn't, in all likelihood.

Still, that was a small part of her and the bigger part of her didn't care; it's not like it really mattered. She knew now who they were, knew her heritage, which had been half of the reason she'd been so eager to go and do it. She'd gone in with low expectations and gotten more than she'd bargained for with Baze. To have it happen twice in a row would have been astounding. Besides, she was fighting for her independence, not for a place in their homes and hearts.

This reminded her of the fact that she'd stayed in the Anvil long enough, this paper needed to be brought back and she'd rather prepare for the Case. She needed everything straight, there was no room for mucking things up; this was her chance and if she could succeed than so could her best friend. The whole affair hinged on her success. This little paper assured her of her success.

" I see…well thanks for getting it for me anyway. I really appreciate it. I got to go though, have to bring this to my case worker."

She turned to Matt and Jamie, who she'd enjoyed some good time with; TV, stories about her parents (mostly her father) and popcorn had made for a good experience. She felt she had a good idea of who Nathaniel was, and she liked the image that now filled up the void that her father had represented before this. It might not be a complete image, but it was something.

And something, she found, was better than nothing.

"So I guess this is good bye. It was nice meeting all of you, but it looks like our shared time is up. Duty calls, you know?"

She saw all three men smile.

"Yeah, I know what that's like. It was nice meeting you, Lux. If you ever have a craving for a smoothie, you know where to find us," said Matt with a grin.

"Or just want to see us, you know, loveable people that we are!"

Her father laughed, "Such modesty Jamie."

"Hey, someone has to do it. It might as well be me, right?"

Two deadpanned looks were aimed at Jamie and two equally deadpan voices said, "Right."

The African American crossed his arms and smirked, "Good to know we all know our roles."

Her father sighed in humor, "Well, I think you should leave Lux, before his Ego fills the whole room and takes out all the oxygen. Want me to drive you to safety, away from this madness?"

She grinned, "I believe I'll take you up on that offer, fresh air does begin to sound rather good."

And with that they left the loft, leaving a 'heartbroken' Jamie behind

His car was more of a Jeep than a car, but she liked it; it fit him.

"This here, Lux, is Atlanta. Atlanta, meet Lux, my daughter."

She laughed, "You named your car?!"

His green eyes sparkled, "Why, of course I did! Every good man knows that one names his vehicles. It's a requirement of manhood!"

"Manhood? Don't you mean boyhood?"

"Ouch."

With that they had a fun, if short, drive to the government building; discussing music tastes and such. It was all very light and unobtrusive, all very safe. It was all fine, until they arrived. Lux felt the ease leave and the tension enter. There was so much both wanted to say, to ask but there simply was no time. Or more correctly, so much time that they had never spent together, and thus needed to cover.

The engine hummed, and the song played but the lyrics didn't really enter her brain. It was one of those silences that seemed to stretch into forever even if it was a few moments at best. An eternity, where neither could decide whether to breach deeper topics or to keep it light; the air was not fraught with tension, it was fraught with indecision.

Baze – her father, though calling him that still felt odd, and this was still in her mind. She'd never called someone Dad before, and she wondered if she would ever reach a time where she would. She certainly hoped so.

In any case, it was Baze who breached the gulf of indecision and silence.

"So….I guess this it huh? Well I gotta say, that when I opened that door I didn't expect you to come barging in, that's for sure." He laughed, an awkward sort of chuckle. "I'm glad you did though, because meeting you, Lux, has been an absolute pleasure. So thank you for that, I suppose." He looked at her and smiled, eyes filled with as many emotions as she felt were running through her. "Anyway, as Matt and Jamie said, my door is always open to you. Seriously, if you ever need a place to just get away from it all and relax, there are few better places to do that than our loft. Family takes care of Family, after all."

Lux felt the air leave her and whatever words she'd been about to say in reply were lost. _Family_. He called her _Family_! God damn it, he wasn't supposed to do this! He was supposed to be the distant yet, somewhat caring father that dropped the offspring he had only met that day. He wasn't supposed to – to be so _fucking nice_!

She felt the beginnings of tears. Oh shit! She wasn't going to cry in front of him, she'd be damned if he saw her like this on the first day he met here. She- she had to get out of here. Now, before she lost her control.

"Yeah," she breathed out, "I'd – I'd like that. Thanks for allowing me in, and getting the signatures. Means a lot to me. So, ummm, so I'll just go deliver this to my case worker. Yeah, bye!"

With that she left the car in a hurry, she was a few steps up when she was called, "Wait, Lux!"

"What?"

"Good luck with your case!" He drove off and she felt her eyes get well and truly wet.

She smiled. He had to go and get the parting shot, didn't he? The asshole.

* * *

Nathaniel came home and switched the sign so it said closed. He walked up to the loft, grabbed a bottle of beer and sank into his favorite chair.

"God, what a day."

"I'll drink to that," came Jamie's voice.

"I'll join right in."

"To one hell of day!" And they clinked their bottles together.

Jamie looked at him, "So, how'd the good bye go?"

He sighed, "About as good as was to be expected. God that was awkward! I wanted to ask her so much; Why she was never adopted, how her foster family – the current one – is treating her. Of course, knowing she's fighting for her emancipation kind of answers that one on its own, doesn't it? Point is, I want to get to know her better."

Baze thought back on it a bit better and groaned, " Oh and just like you guys I told her that the door here is always open because ' family takes care of family, after all.' What the hell kind of right do I have to use that phrase, when I haven't been there for 16 years? She didn't like it too much either, got the hell out of the car. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

Matt chuckled, "Whilst I agree that you're stupid, it's not for using the word 'family'. In fact, I'm quite sure that that is the best word you could have used."

Baze looked up in surprise, "Really?"

"Yeah, really." replied Matt, "She's an orphaned kid, who's been going form Foster to Foster home. That doesn't sound very Familial to me. On top of that you're her biological father. And the cherry on top of that, so to speak, is that you were nice and didn't turn her away as soon as you signed the release of rights."

Matt looked Baze in the eyes, "You basically, without even knowing it, pierced all the protective layers of snark and bitterness Lux has herself surrounded by and hit one of the strings that hasn't been plucked in forever – if ever. A string she never expected to be plucked, by you of all people. It's probably been a dream of hers since the day the word family was introduced to her vocabulary."

Jamie took a swig, "To summarize what our resident teacher just explained: You just loosed the one liner every kid who doesn't know their parents wants to hear. You made her feel an emotion she wasn't expecting and it made the situation even more surreal for her than it probably already was. And that, dear Cheap Seat of ours, is why she got the hell out of Atlanta."

"Oh." So, he'd made her feel as if his father finally said to him, "I'm proud of you, Son." On the first day he'd met her no less. Well, _that_ certainly explained things, put things into perspective.

"So…that's a good thing, right?"

"I certainly hope so, telling her stories about you was one of the greatest things I've done lately. I wouldn't mind a repeat."

"….You what?"

Both men grinned, "Told her stories, as all 'uncles' should."

Baze sighed, "Of course you did."

Matt and Jamie clinked their bottles together, "Don't you want to know which ones?"

"No… No I don't. Besides, she's a kid, the worst one can't be in there."

"That, sadly enough, is true. Now, speaking of telling about experiences; how'd the meeting with Cate go?" asked his best friend.

Nate sighed, he'd been waiting for that particular question to be asked, had been stalling as it were. " Same as with Lux's goodbye; it went about as expected."

"So you got chewed out?"

"Yeah, but not as bad as I'd prepared myself for. Not mentioning Lux or 1992 probably helped that along."

"Wait…if you didn't mention them how'd you get Cate Cassidy, one of the most careful and perfectionist people I have ever known, to sign the release of rights?"

He grinned. "I fluster her, get her riled up. Saying it was a restraining order of sorts that applied to me made it an even quicker deal."

"So…you lied?"

"No, I told her what she wanted to hear."

"Still lying."

"For the greater good; for the good of Lux."

Matt shook his head, "I don't know man, I know she hates your guts and she don't want nothing to with you, but don't you owe her the truth?"

"No, not if she doesn't want to hear it – especially from my mouth. Besides if _she_ had just told me the truth all those years ago, we could have signed that release of rights and Lux would have been adopted! Hell, we could have raised her together if it came to it!"

Matt looked angry now as well, "You wouldn't have, not at 16. You were a right ass."

"Oh what do you know! I might have been an ass, yes, I concede that much but I was not that callous. Had she told me she hadn't gone for the abortion I would have at least tried to help!"

"Baze, you never went in to check, that means you didn't give a fuck!"

"I was 16 Matt, If I didn't have to get involved I wouldn't! To tell you the truth Matt, I was fucking terrified. Of course I wasn't going to go and face my biggest fuck up to date on my own volition, do you have any Idea what my father would have done? DO YOU?"

That seemed to quench some of Matt's anger, because he did. Baze's father was a man who did not take failure well. In any way. Blemishes on his pristine highborn status were dealt with – put under wraps. Baze had wanted to keep it under the radar, his father wouldn't have even wanted the possibility of it being on the radar. Baze had never forced the issue again, his father would not have left it alone. If Baze had ruined her teen years, than his father would have ruined her life. Once you fucked up he either kept his eyes trained on you, restraining your movement or, as was the case with Baze, cut all but the most basic of ties.

"Fine, you were young and the better of two evils, but I still doubt you would have taken her in. Not to mention that by not telling Cate about Lux you took away Lux's chance of meeting her mother. Who, by the way, is someone she actually idealizes."

Baze chugged down his beer and glared at the Teacher, "Don't remind me alright, how do you think I felt about that revelation during our little car ride?" He scoffed, " Still, I think it's better this way. She didn't want anything to do with me, and seeing as Lux is composed of half my genes that counts against her." He waved a hand, "Besides, had we both shown up we would have caused more drama than was necessary. I, for one, am not exactly up for being responsible for the ruining of her engagement as well as her teen years."

Both Jamie and Matt looked at him in wonder, "She's engaged?!" both of them asked at exactly the same time.

"Yeah, unless that ring on her ring finger means something else."

"To whom?"

"Fuck if I know, his face was familiar I can tell you that much. Seen it before, but where I don't remember."

"That," muttered Matt, "is very helpful."

"Hey," countered Baze, "I wasn't there on a reconnaissance mission, sorry that I was more concerned with facing Mrs. Cassidy's wrath."

"He makes a fair point, Matt. Still if you really want to know, I can always go on that mission. For a price, of course."

Matt propped up his glasses, "That would be stalking."

"Yes, and?"

"And what?"

"Isn't that what you did all through middle school, if I heard it right?"

"Jamie, I didn't Stalk her!" Matt sounded as if he was accused of murder. It didn't help his case at all, really.

"Sure looked like that to me," said Baze with a grin, swirling his beer around.

"Yes, to you but didn't we establish earlier that you're dumb?"

"That we did," said Jamie, "still doesn't change the fact that you stalked her."

The teacher huffed, "I refuse to label that as stalking."

"Fine," conceded Jamie, "Religiously following then."

Baze nodded to this, "That actually terms it much better. He knew his place in this world, and knew that she was out of his reach, up there in the clouds."

"Oh," exclaimed Jamie, "that reminds me; How'd she look?"

He raised an eyebrow, "You want to join the clergy?"

"Of course he does," said Matt, " because than he can join me in religiously burning you at the stakes."

"For sinning, " explained Jamie with wiggling eyebrows.

"Yeah, I still haven't forgiven you for that, just so you know. But my anger aside, since we now know that it happened, and the end result, can you tell us how you got her that far? Because from what I remember she was a goodie-two shoe's…and kind of prude."

"Yeah…it took some wrangling on my part. I don't remember precisely what words I used but it went something like this…" and he preceded to tell them how he lured her to his mini-van with Zima and compliments.

The talk after that went on about virginity, because as Matt pointed out, he'd taken her virginity. Suddenly conversations and the words she'd used in them made a lot of sense. He told them this, and they laughed, once again cementing the belief that, sometimes, he was kind of thick in the head.

Hours later, having covered many topics, Baze lay in bed contemplating life and thinking about all that had happened to today. Jamie had said that the experience for Lux must have been surreal, but he felt that applied just as much to him as it did to her.

The fact that he had a daughter – a beautiful daughter, at that – was still a thought that didn't really compute with his view of reality quite yet. He felt that if he closed his eyes, went to sleep, he'd wake up and find that it was all a dream. A part of him wanted it, to absolve all the guilt she'd brought by knocking on that door. It was gnawing at his conscience – even now.

The worst part, really, was that she didn't hate him for it. Sure, she'd been snakry, but not once had she pointed fingers and accused him of being…whatever he was. If there was ever a woman, a person who had the right to call him useless or any such adjective it was Lux. He had not been there for her in the last 16 years, which was even less than his own father had even done.

"God damn it!"

Worse than his own father, that is what he was.

* * *

Once again she fiddled with her sleeve. God, she was so nervous. So _fucking_ nervous. This was it. In 3 minutes she would start the case that meant everything to her. The case that would decide the rest of her life.

The court room was quite, except for the shuffling of papers and some whispers. Barely anyone was here, not even any of her friends even if they all had valid reasons not to. Bug, for one, didn't like these rooms.

Still, even if they all had valid reasons it would have been a welcome thing none-the less. Any support would have done, because she felt like she was drowning. This room was full of strangers, of people who presided over her life. She felt their stares, their whispers, and she refused to show them her fear and anxiety. So she stared straight ahead, where the judge would take seat. It was a high desk, made of mahogany or some such rich and high quality wood. It was polished, and sleek.

She had the urge to run her hands along it, but she pushed it down and made due with the desk in front of her. It was made of the same wood, but not as polished. Still, it was the best quality wood she'd ever touched. It didn't calm her nerves in the least and she almost cursed out loud.

180 seconds was too long a time. In her head she went over the words she'd prepared last night, and prayed to the gods above – she had no religion, so she prayed to all – that it would go well.

It was as she whispered her wishes to Buddha that the door finally opened, and the judge entered. It was a woman, one of African American descent. She was in her 50's and had dark, cropped up curls. Her face was a strict one, all business and no jokes. The glasses and robes she wore only added to this visage.

All rose when she entered, and most went to sit down when she said, "You may be seated." Lux was not one of them, she stayed standing. More for comfort than anything else, because the desk was intimidating, now that somebody sat behind it. The woman wasn't much taller than Lux, but now she was looking down on her. Judging her with just a glance.

Lux took a breath. This was it.

"I see you turn 16 tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Honor. I can get emancipated, get my GD, get a job."

"And this here is your Case Worker?"

"Yes, I am Your Honour," came the voice of her Case Worker. A nice enough woman, if really bureaucratically focused. "I've only been with Lux the past few months, she...tends to change hands often."

Lux almost snorted, often was an understatement.

"I see that," said the Judge, "Seven different foster Families."

Lux felt she heard an accusatory tone in there, and her pride demanded that she say, " Well that's not really my fault."

"And whose is it?" The Judge wasn't even looking at her, just reading the paper and sounding bored out of mind, "Surely you're not saying it's the seven different Families that took you in?"

Lux thought back on the 7 different families, and especially the last one with Stewie. Their fault? It was. It so was! She knew, however, that saying that was practically throwing away her right for emancipation. She was starting to regret having let her pride come to the fore.

"No – I wanted a good home, the State of Oregon just hasn't provided me with one." Brain to mouth filter, where did you go?!

Thankfully, the Judge went past it, "So you have no permanent place of residence as of today."

"Well as soon as my petition is granted there's a studio not far from my school." Good, this was a line she had prepared. Good she was getting back on track, back to the script. She could do this.

"You're planning to afford and apartment? On what income?" The judge was looking at her incredulously.

Again, she'd prepared for that; "I have $3000 in my back account."

"And who's going to co-sign your rental agreement?"

"The whole point of getting emancipated is that I won't need it co-signed."

"No landlord is going to rent to a minor –"

"I'll sign it, your Honor."

Lux whirled around, and her eyes widened. There stood Nathiel Bazile, in a relatively formal dress state; white blouse, and black pants.

_What. The. Actual. Fuck._

"I am sorry, but who are you?"

She had prepared for many things, many questions and tangents that this case could go. This had not been one of them. Well, time to adlib.

"He – He's my Birth Father."

"Can I get that file, please." Her case worker brought it over to the Judge, and she looked over it. Lux, meanwhile was still staring at Baze. What in hell was he doing here?!

"You own your own business, is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"No criminal record. In possession of a working vehicle."

This was going outside of the script. Way outside of the script that she had prepared, and she had to do some damage control; "What is going on?"

"Okay," The Judge took off her glasses, which made her look a little less foreboding and looked right at her with charcoal black eyes, "I'm going to be very straight with you; I'm not going to grant you emancipation." Those were not the words that she wanted to hear. " You have no income, no permanent residence. You filed a fee way in order to cover your court cost."

"Now," the Judge put her glasses back on, "Nathaniel Bazile and Catherine Cassidy are still legally your parents."

Hold up! "Uhhh, Actually they're not. I- I had that paper signed!"

"Those were neither witnessed or notarized." Shit. _Shit_! It was all falling to pieces!

"So, unless anybody here has an objection I am releasing you back into their temporary joint custody."

Wait _what_?

"Joint Custody, your Honor? We're not together, haven't been in a long while. Nor is she currently here, your Honor. " It looked like she wasn't the only one wondering what the hell was going on.

"Yes Mr. Bazile, I am aware of that. She will be notified of this, you can be assured of that. Still, joint custody is my decision. The Foster Care system, in the end, will decide whether or not that is to be. Case dismissed."

The hammer slammed down, and both daughter and father looked to be lost to a fate neither had signed up for.

* * *

**AN:** Hey guys, long time no update. Yeah, this should tell you guys that my update speed is slow and sporadic at best. Still, fear not, this story shall keep on living! As far as this chapter went, Ryan's was the mindset I could get into the easiest. Lux, on the other hand, was a bit harder. At points I am still not entirely satisfied with it so I might change a thing here or there when improvement strikes me. In any case, Concrit is welcomed and I hope you enjoyed it!

Cheers,

Ray the Red


	3. Chapter 3: Offer Accepted

_Offer Accepted_

_"People Seldom refuse help, if one offers it in the right way."_

\- A. C. Benson

The next case started, and everyone pertaining to hers walked out of the room. She was one of them, but she wasn't really aware of her surroundings as the words "I'm not going to grant you emancipation" and "joint custody" resounded in her ears. She had to sit down, and the first wooden bench she saw became her seat. Calm down, she had to calm down because what the fuck had actually just happened?! That was rather simple; it'd all gone to hell and the dream turned to smoke. All of that work, all of that planning and within five minutes it was all gone, down the drain. Well fuck, now what?! Again, the answer was rather obvious: joint custody.

A swirl of emotions was making its way throughout her body at the very thought, and as fate would have it, Juliette Collins, her case worker, walked in front of her and asked if she was alright and that was the last goddamn straw.

"Alright?! Juliette, does it look like I'm alright?!" The confusing swirl of emotions suddenly became a lot less confusing as anger took over. "That – that was not a hearing! Do you know what that was?"

The 40-something dirty blonde woman looked taken aback by the sudden burst of anger, and was about to speak, maybe to answer what had clearly been a rhetorical question, but Lux was having none of that.

"That, Juliette, was a train wreck! But you already knew that didn't you?!"

Lux stood up, no longer needing the bench for some sort of support, as the anger and adrenaline pumped through her system. A sharp smile appeared on her face, because now she knew what she was doing. This right here was familiar territory; lashing out at adults (as well as people in general) wasn't just a defense mechanism. No, she'd perfected it to an art, and at times even considered it a sport of sorts.

"You knew," she hissed as she jabbed her finger at Juliette Collins, "you full well knew that I wasn't going to be granted emancipation! You knew that those signatures weren't valid! That's sabotage, Juliette, sabotage!"

The woman did not appreciate that at all, and Lux relished in the disgruntled expression that appeared on her face. That's right, take the bait, and get this argument rolling!

"Can't say I didn't know, Lux, but to be fair _I'm_ not the one who stole the paper and got it signed without witnesses. If anyone sabotaged the already _small_ chance of you gaining emancipation, it was _you_. I can only do so much; I'm not a magician who can make these things happen within a day. These things take time, as I told you when we first met, but obviously you didn't take that with you. Maybe if you'd let me do my job on my time we wouldn't be having this conversation, but you didn't, so here we are. Now, we'll talk more tomorrow, when you'll have calmed down."

With that said, Collins started walking away in her stupid, ugly, little, striped two-piece suit. This bitch was supposed to be the one to help her get emancipated – one less burden for the already overburdened foster care system – and she was all but admitting that it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other, and that she didn't really care either. Lux really didn´t care much for that patronizing tone of voice either.

Lux's pride and anger demanded she go after her because they were far from done, but Nathaniel Bazile decided to talk to her before she'd even set a step, which really wasn't a smart decision on his part.

* * *

Well, this was not what he had expected at all. All he'd wanted to do was see how her case went, congratulate her on her emancipation and open the bar for business and drink in celebration of having at least given Lux her freedom. If that had to be done by signing a rental agreement, who was he to argue? Two signatures were the least he owed her.

But…life was never that straight and simple was it? Instead, life liked being unexpected and threw curve balls at you. It had decided to do that in the form of the Judge saying Lux was back in his and Cate's temporary joint custody. So, instead of giving her freedom, he'd put her back in shackles. Oh, and he'd put himself in mortal danger - because Cate would now murder him. He was sure of it. At least he wasn't the one that had to inform her, so he had that going for him.

No, but seriously, what exactly was the court going to expect of them because this…this was not just a tall order; it was an impossible one. Sure it was temporary, but Cate would never agree, and if by some miracle she did…well he'd be shocked, honestly. Aside from personal issues, all three of them led different lives, combining them would be no easy task. At the same time, he didn't really have a choice, did he, because it was either this or letting Lux back into the foster system and that just simply wasn't an option. He'd already fucked up her youth, and now her emancipation – a great track record to be sure – fucking up the next two years wasn't on his to do list.

He closed the courtroom door behind him and decided that he'd go talk to her right now, apologize as early as he could and find out what her thoughts on this mess were. He found her after scanning the hall, she was on a bench to the left, but her case worker had already beaten him to the punch and was asking her if she was alright.

It was the polite question to ask, but stupid all the same considering the circumstances. Lux loudly pointed out the obvious and then proceeded to tear into the woman. It was done with a vindictiveness that he found very, very familiar. The sharp, fake smile that appeared on the teen's face was one he'd seen not three days ago.

Damn it all! Three days and not once had it occurred to him that maybe…maybe the signing should have gone through official channels? All the same, as he saw Lux tear into her case worker, he had to concede that both had valid points; Lux should have never hurried it along all on her own, but Juliette, as the woman was apparently called, should not only keep a better eye on her stuff, but also have informed the teen on how all of this would transpire, as that alone might've actually prevented this situation from ever happening.

It would have also prevented him having spent a few hours with his daughter, and though selfish it might be, he wouldn't trade that for the world so he was actually glad it had turned out the way it had. He watched in interest as Juliette left, but noticed that Lux looked like she was just getting started. Stopping her was probably not all that good for him, he'd become the target of her anger, but it was better than ruining the already tenuous relationship that his daughter seemed to have with the foster care system. A part of him wondered as to what exactly she'd done to be relocated a total of seven times.

That was a question for later though; right now he had to face an angry teenage girl.

"Hey Lux, I wouldn't –

The blonde whirled around and angry blue eyes narrowed as they locked onto the sight of him. Well, no turning back now.

"_You_!"

She stepped forward and got all up and in his face. "Don't you dare tell me what to do, especially after you just ruined the most important moment of my life!"

"I thought Juliette was the one who –

"Oh no, don't you try and wriggle your way out of this one, Baze! You're just as guilty as that bitch and you know it! Why, man, why did you have come?!"

"I wanted to help you," he answered truthfully.

Lux let out a sardonic bark. "Yeah, and look where that much valued help got us. I didn't need your help!"

He shrugged. "Maybe not, gave it anyway. Besides, Lux, I'm in this just as much as you."

She glared up at him and practically growled. "Yes, can't forget about _our_ sentence can we? Temporary joint custody! Ha! What a fucking joke! If I wanted parents I wouldn't be applying for emancipation, now would I?"

"True," he conceded, "but this is the hand we've been dealt, so how about we try and make it work."

Deep disbelief, much like his, colored her words. "Make it work? Baze, the two of you can't even hold a fucking phone conversation! That's worse than most of the foster parents I've been with, and that's saying something! What's the point of even giving this a go, it's doomed to fail! I'll be back in the system, like always, so why postpone what we already know is going to happen?"

His daughter stormed off, and he didn't follow because she'd just hit the heart of the matter right then and there, hadn't she? He and Cate, the two of them couldn't be parents, not together anyways. He would've given it a try, but if Lux, the very reason he would've, didn't want it then why even bother? She was right; it would've been a disaster. Plus, he understood why she didn't want it even if it would've worked; why would you want to go back to the very people who'd given you up? He knew that, had he been in her shoes, he wouldn't.

* * *

Lux paid the balding bus driver her fare and took a seat somewhere in the middle of the bus. She took out her phone, put in her ear buds and turned on her favorite radio station. She cranked it up to full volume as one of the rock classics was playing. She thought the music would drive out all of these thoughts that were buzzing in her noggin, but even with a guitar solo blasting its way into her skull, they refused to leave.

Her anger had waned as she'd stormed out of the grand building where justice was served and made her way to the correct bus, leaving her biological father in the dust. What had now taken its place was a deep sense of failure. Blaming Juliette and Baze had been easy, so easy, but that didn't make their arguments carry any less weight or truth. Juliette was right in that had Lux let the woman do her job that form would've been signed the correct way. And sure, Baze showing up had made an already bad situation worse, but all he'd been doing was trying to help. It was she alone, in wanting to speed the process up somewhat, who had caused it to go down as it had.

By doing exactly that, she hadn't just crushed her own dreams of freedom, but also those of her friends, especially those of her best friend. She'd failed her friends and though she felt small, alone and worthless right now and would love nothing more than to cuddle up to Bug, she couldn't bear to face them because of shame. All of that planning, all of the ideas the four of them had had now would never be.

All the same, the judge hadn't just thrown her back into the system; she had offered her an out. The idea of being in the temporary joint custody of her birth parents was a very strange and loaded one. It was court issued, and though she'd botched up her own case, she knew enough about the judicial system to know that you had to follow it. However, she'd also been part of the foster care system long enough to know that this wasn't even in the hands of her parents; no all authority was laid at the feet of Child Protective Services. It was they who would decide whether or not this temporary joint custody was even to be, and though her faith in CPS wasn't as strong it had been once upon a time, she knew even they could tell that this would never work in a million year. But…suppose CPS did grant her birth parents that right, what then?

She somewhat knew her biological father, having at least spent half a day with the man, and from their last conversation she knew that he would at least try and make it work and that he would never be as bad as some of her foster fathers had been. Cate Cassidy she only knew as a voice on the radio – she was very happy that Morning Madness wasn't playing right now – and that was probably a scripted character, if one that Lux idealized and loved.

Everything else she knew about the woman who had carried her for nine months was that she hated Baze, and that she'd abandoned Lux without so much a name or any rights to speak of. The woman had never – not even once - checked up on her and had signed the slip for her rights when Baze had brought it over without a problem and hadn't even felt the need to talk to Lux or even send her a message through Baze. If that didn't tell her that Cate Cassidy wasn't interested in her estranged daughter, Lux didn't know what would. Ryan was right in saying that his cohost didn´t have a maternal bone in her body.

A disinterest in Lux and a burning hatred for Baze were not exactly the inspiring qualities that she or CPS were looking for. If CPS didn't shut this one down, she would because Lux didn't need a mother, and certainly not the one that hadn't cared since day one.

Dulled blue eyes looked out of the window as they left the city and entered the suburbs- the less well to do ones, anyway. Tall brick buildings that were all crammed next to each other became spread out old, ramshackle wooden houses; home sweet home. 20 minutes later they reached her stop and she got off. She shivered, the heat of the bus was gone and winter in Portland wasn't exactly what she would call charming. She started on the half hour long trek that she had to embark on every day just to reach home. As she walked through what had been her neighborhood for the past year and half she thought about her current foster family. Mr. Foster was away more often than not, so she really didn't know or care. Mrs. Foster might be a bitch and a far from perfect foster mother, but at the very least she was a good mother to her own children. Hell, Lux even liked the little baby girl, Stella, who was quite adorable. Stewie could go fuck himself though. Yes, now that she was thinking about it, she'd dealt with worse. It wasn't perfect, but Lux would tough it out another two years with the Fosters, and if she got kicked back to Sunnyvale, so be it.

Finally she arrived and she entered what she could truly call a Foster home, happily leaving the cold behind. She closed the door and entered the main room, all ready to just take a nice warm shower and sulk in her bed. Tomorrow she'd deal with the repercussions of today; right now she was all used up. She walked towards the stairs, only to find all of her stuff packed up and ready to go, her teddy bear, the one that the nurse who had named her had apparently given her, sitting atop one of the suitcases.

They didn't want her. She grabbed the bear that had protected her from many a nightmare and held it tight as tears fell down her cheeks. It offered little comfort from the dark thought that had plagued her since she was a little girl: maybe no one did.

* * *

He poured the man a Guinness, which Baze personally despised for its dark and bitter taste. Odd, given the darker his coffee, the more he liked it. Maybe it was because he was American. He was glad to be working, though; it kept him busy and didn't let him think about what had happened today. Not only was the bar a reminder that not everything in his life was a failure, but he was glad to be surrounded by all these people, who were laughing and chatting rambunctiously whilst his playlist resounded in the background. It was a nice atmosphere to be in when in a dipping mood. Yeah, the social aspect was one of, it not the chief reason he'd started up the Anvil. Not only was it fun, but he was good at it too. The college parties he'd hosted had been grand successes, from what he remembered.

He made a margarita for a tall and slim brunette. She was part of the gaggle of girls in the corner trying to play darts and failing rather spectacularly. Whether they were too drunk or just sucked at it naturally was uncertain at this point. Jamie, who'd been collecting empty bottles and glasses, had been pulled aside by one of them to teach them how to actually hit the board. The man wasn't one to say no, and was enjoying himself immensely. So were the girls, if their lecherous grins and giggles were any indication. Baze had the feeling that Jamie would not be alone in bed tonight.

"Here you go, one margarita."

"Thank you." The 20-something took a sip, played a bit with the toy umbrella and spoke again. "Is your friend over there, Jamie, taken?"

Baze smiled. "No, he is not. Are you interested?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't matter anyway. Amy," here the girl pointed to the Asian that Jamie currently had his arms around, "already has her claws into him. She always gets the guy."

He could practically smell the envy coming off of her and see her confidence crumble. He was going to fix that, and rather easily too. "Well, then I'll tell you a secret; Jamie is more into brunette's than he is Asians."

"Really now?"

"Really," he assured her. "You're exactly his type too. Now the next song that'll play is his one of his favorites. Ask him for a dance, he won't refuse."

A smile made its way onto her face, brown eyes lighting up with confidence. "Thank you, I'll do that! Thank you!" And like that she moved on back to her pack, an extra spring in her step.

He had just pulled off what he liked to call a Double Wingman; set up his friend with a chick of his preference whilst setting up the chick with the guy she was interested in. Playing matchmaker, it was a perk that came with the job and had through the years kind of become a hobby of his. Sure, this would probably stay a one-night stand, but he'd given her a confidence boost and that alone was worth it. This might not be one of them, but he had put together two people that were still items to this day. Faithfull patrons and good friends they were, though not here this night.

Happy hour went by in a flash, and soon enough it was already midnight. The amount of customers had already gone down significantly, the gaggle of girls having left – some with men on their arms – though the brunette, whose name turned out to be Sofia, was still here. She was actually helping Jamie with stuff around the rest of the Anvil, although currently she was keeping the man from doing any work whatsoever.

Luckily it wasn't busy; they were only open for two more hours, seeing as it was a Wednesday. The weekend was when the real party started and Baze was already looking forward to it because he knew for a fact – she'd texted him – that Patricia would be here again. He'd actually had the decency to respond, Jamie meanwhile hadn't let the redhead hear anything, which was about as expected. A similar fate would probably befall Sofia, although maybe she was one of the rare ones that Jamie was actually interested in.

Speaking of interested, Baze himself wasn't always this much of a gent; he was actually genuinely interested in the blonde. Sure, this would only be their second night together, but he had a feeling that it might actually get a bit further than a one night stand. Maybe it would only be as fuck buddies, and maybe it would be as more, or maybe it would end with two nights of great sex. Only time would tell, but it had been a long time since he'd actually entertained the notion of starting a relationship of any kind. Perhaps it was time to try again; he really didn't have anything to lose.

He heard the door open, and ready to help his new customer, he turned around. He almost dropped the empty bottle of Jack Daniels he'd just replaced. All thoughts on relationships came to a halt, because out of all the people he could have expected to see standing there she was not on that list. Not tonight at least.

* * *

Lux was glad that there were still busses going, as that would have made an already truly terrible day even worse. The heat of the bus was welcoming indeed, and she took a seat in the middle this time so that there was space for her bags. She hated cold weather, she really did, but the cold wind had made her pale skin raw and red, which at least camouflaged a little bit that she'd shed tears. It was something, although it didn't help her feel any less miserable or angry.

She was angry at herself for crying because tears were stupid and didn't help jack shit; she'd learned that at a young age. She was angry that the Fosters, of all people, had made her crumble and fall apart completely. She'd wanted to scream and shout at them, but found that they weren't even worth that. They didn't deserve that privilege and so she'd left without a word.

As the suburbs passed by once more, so did her anger. Loneliness and sadness linger a lot longer in that respect. She felt as miserable as she ever had and her first instinct was to go to the people who understood, to get the comfort from the people she knew the best, but again the shame was too strong. She just wanted out of it, to get away from it all.

Baze's voice resounded in her head, "Seriously, if you ever need a place to just get away from it all and relax, there are few better places to do that than our loft. Family takes care of family, after all."

Family takes care of family. It was a whisper, a promise of something she'd wanted since she'd learned that she, too, had real parents somewhere. Her heart ached for it, as it always had, and so she decided that she was going to take this particular gamble. She'd already lost all her other bets, and the court had issued that order anyways, so why not give it a shot now. This was her test, and maybe it would turn out alright after all. Maybe not perfect, but alright and that was better than she feeling right now, so she'd take it. Besides, Sunnyvale always resided in the back, a familiar evil.

It was how she found herself standing outside of the Anvil at 15 minutes after midnight. She vaguely heard a song by Queen being played and voices speaking and laughing, across the street she heard the loud bass of house music. There was still a chance to go to the familiar, to abondon this gambit, as this hadn´t been the last bus. No, she decided that turning back now would be fleeing, and Lux did not flee. With that in mind she entered the bar where she´d found her biological father not three days earlier.

There weren´t that many people in the bar, in the middle she saw Jamie making out with a brunette, over to the right, nearer to the bar, she saw what appeared to be bleu collar businessmen who´d gone here right after work, and behind the bar stood the man she was looking for. He was still wearing the clothes he´d worn to court, not that she´d changed her outfit. He looked very surprised to see her, and she didn´t blame him, not with the way she´d stormed away from him after accusing him of not being capable of being a parent.

His head cocked to the side as his eyes flicked to the suitcases she had with her and his brows furrowed ever so slightly. It funny how open this man was, how easy to read. She doubted the man was very good at poker or lying, both things she excelled at. He came over and asked, "Lux, what are you doing here?"

"Well...maybe I should have waited until after the hearing to tell my foster mom to suck it. She kind of kicked me out."

His green eyes widened and he said, "She what?!"

"She kicked me out, you do see the suitcases do you not?"

"Yes," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I see the suitcases. Why...why would she kick you out?"

"Because she's a bitch? Anyways, Baze, is that offer to get away from it all still on the table?" This was the question everything hinged on, so she kept her face as blank as possible.

He blinked and a smile appeared his face. "Of course that offers still open, come on up to the loft."

She smiled as well. "Thanks, this means a lot." She was about to lift one of the suitcases when his hand stopped her.

"Nuh-uh, you've been lugging them around for who knows how long, let me carry them the last bit."

"They're pretty heavy," she warned.

"Yeah, and if I'm not stonger than you at my age I have some serious issues. Please, give me some credit." He lifted them with a lot more ease than she would have and she was glad she wouldn't have to lug them up the spiral staircase.

"Fair enough."

Her father turned towards his college room mate. "Jamie, could you please take helm of the bar for a while, I got to settle Lux up in the loft?"

The black man nodded, and pulled along the brunette. Lux heard him say, "Come, Sofia, I'll show you some tricks I've picked up over the years."

With that they left the bar behind, though she could still hear the music play in the background. He put both of them down in the middle of the loft, wiped his brow sat down on the tallest one and faced her.

"You were right, these suckers aren't particularilly light. On to business though, you're getting my room no 'ifs' or 'buts' about it. I do need to clean it up a bit. That'll take a minute or two, so go take a seat here in the loft, grab a drink if you want, and just relax."

He went into his room, the one closest to the fridge, she noted. She wasn't thirsty, so she sat down on the couch and waited for her father to come back. He'd taken this all really well, a lot better than she'd expected. He'd even offered her his room, which probably meant he was going to be sleeping on the couch. That was not only a very nice gesture, but also a first. He was also right about her being really tired, she would gladly welcome sleep.

A few minutes passed and he came back out. "Well, it's all ready. Come let's get you settled in." Once again he carried the suitcases, and set them down. The room was big, bigger than any room she'd ever had. The same could be said for the bed, which looked very, very comfortable. A dresser was placed across from the bed. Various things, such as pictures were placed on top of it and a mirror hung above it.

"Well that's the bed, that over there is closet and the door on the left of the bed leads to the bathroom. The bathroom has a toilet and a shower, basically everything you need, so you need not worry, you've got privacy. Now go on and get some sleep, God knows I could use some."

"Thanks, Baze."

"Not a problem, Lux."

"No seriously," she replied, "this is...this means a lot. I don't really know why you're being so nice to me, especially after what I said today, so thank you!"

Baze chuckled. "And as I said, it not a problem. I know what its like to get kicked out of the house, and trust me that eventually they'll let you back in. People say and do a lot of rash things when they're angry, not all of them smart. Besides, you're family - my daughter to boot - I can't very well leave you on the streets now can I? So just go to sleep, we'll talk about where we go from here tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," replied Lux softly as he left the room, closing the door behind him. She flopped onto the bed and let out a groan of satisfaction as the soft mattess absorbed her form. She would sleep like a baby, of this she was sure. Her thoughts turned back to her father. This was only the third time meeting the man, and he had to yet let her down. He understood, maybe not completely, but he understood somewhat and she hadn't expected that. A trustworthy adult...was a foreign concept. In fact, before today she would have called it an oxymoron and a myth. She wasn't entirely sold on the idea yet, a part of her was sure that he would let her down at some point, but for now Nathaniel Bazile was acing this test. For now, she might actually be willing to give this a shot.

* * *

AN: Well this is back, if with a somewhat shorter chapter than planned. Originally this chapter was 9000 words strong, and I was happy with it, but it dissapeared on me, killing a lot of the enthousiasm that I had for this story. I kind of abondoned it for a while, all the way up until this point. I have no idea if this is actually as good as the version that dissapeared, but this is here, and I know already precisely how the next chapter will go/ should go. That one should be back up to the usual length, but we'll see how that actually turns out. In any case I hope you guys enjoy it and a major thanks to Ravenreux for Beta'ing it! R&amp;R if you like, let me know what you guys think!

Cheers,

Ray the Red


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